Yemen · 08 September, 2026 · 3 min read
Yemen Government Forces Launch Counterattacks Against Houthis in Taiz and Hodeidah
Yemeni government forces launch counterattacks against Houthis in Taiz and Hodeidah. Fighting escalated with hundreds killed and thousands displaced.
28 outlets, one story, no spin found.
7 of 8 outlets skipped it: aramco facilities in Jizan were hit.
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Counteroffensive for Sanaa
Fighting in Yemen escalated as government-aligned forces launched counterattacks against the Iran-backed Houthis in Taiz and Hodeidah, with Al Jazeera reporting that “Hundreds of people have reportedly been killed over the past 24 hours” and that “thousands are forced to flee the conflict.” Al Jazeera said the campaign’s stated aim was to “retake Sanaa,” citing remarks by Yemen’s deputy defence minister, Major-General Samir Al-Sabri, broadcast on state television. Majid al-Nuzaili, a spokesman for Yemen’s government-aligned forces, said the objective was to “liberate Yemen from the grip” of the Houthis and “restore Sanaa as a capital for all Yemenis.”
The same Al Jazeera report said fighting intensified on Monday in the provinces of Taiz, al-Bayda and al-Jawf, described as the main gateway to the capital, and said government forces were backed by Saudi Arabia. Al Jazeera also reported that the Houthis said they repelled an offensive in al-Jawf and that at least seven people were killed in an air strike on a prison in the town of al-Hazm, which they blamed on Riyadh.
Competing casualty claims
Al Jazeera reported that Saudi Arabia accused the Houthis of wounding at least 73 civilians, including women and children, in recent attacks on the kingdom’s southern provinces, while Riyadh promised a response to the “dangerous escalation.” In the same Al Jazeera account, Ahmed al-Shalafi, Al Jazeera’s Yemen affairs editor, said Yemeni government forces appear “to have absorbed the initial shock” of the rebel offensive and “expanded the fighting across several fronts.” Al Jazeera said the World Health Organization reported on Monday that at least 728 people have been killed or wounded since August 23, with the majority in Taiz and along the western coast.
Al Jazeera also quoted its reporter Yousef Mawry from Sanaa saying the casualty count is expected to rise further because it “does not include figures from Monday.” Rashad al-Alimi, head of Yemen’s Saudi-backed Presidential Leadership Council, claimed sweeping gains against the Houthis on Monday, crediting government forces with advances in al-Jawf, al-Bayda, Taiz and Hodeidah.
Bab al-Mandeb stakes
As the escalation pushed toward the Red Sea, Al Jazeera said the Houthis launched a major offensive trying to advance through western Taiz and southern Hodeidah toward the port city of al-Makha and the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, and that the Houthis declared a blockade against Saudi vessels transiting the waterway. Al Jazeera described the strait as a vital corridor for shipping between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, and said the fighting resumed in July after government forces struck the Houthi-controlled airport in Sanaa, blocking the landing of an aircraft from Iran. In a separate report, Anadolu Ajansı said Yemeni government forces made battlefield gains Monday on four fronts—reported in Al-Jawf, Al-Bayda, Taiz and Al-Hudaydah—citing Yemen’s official Saba news agency and Presidential Leadership Council Chairman Rashad al-Alimi.
Anadolu Ajansı reported that the Giants Brigades seized “strategic positions” during an operation in Al-Bayda governorate that killed 23 Houthi fighters and wounded dozens, and said the Yemeni army carried out 13 airstrikes on Houthi positions, gatherings and military vehicles in Al-Bayda. Al-Quds al-Arabi framed the wider stakes by arguing that battles west of Taiz could put Bab al-Mandab “at the heart of the struggle between Iran and the United States over the security of navigation” in the Red Sea, the Arabian Gulf, and the Strait of Hormuz.